Speaking from the Alpine heights of Davos, Switzerland, President Aquino spun a stupendous tale at the World Economic Forum (WEF) of the dramatic transformation of the Philippines from being the “sick man of Asia” into a dynamic country swimming against the current of global economic downturn in a record time of three years.
Foreign direct investments into the Philippines during President Aquino’s first two years in office have steeply fallen, putting the country only a notch above Cambodia as the least-favored site in East Asia for offshore investors.
This is in reaction to Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas’ column titled “In defense of Charter change” (Inquirer, 8/11/12). He cites China, Vietnam and Indonesia as countries that have achieved much higher levels of foreign direct investments (FDI) than the Philippines, then quickly segues to the need to “remove from our Constitution the many restrictions against foreign equity investments in such vital sectors of our economy as media, education, public utilities, mining, and real estate.”
The Supreme Court, in Gamboa vs Teves (June 28, 2011) written by Justice Antonio T. Carpio, ruled that foreign investments in public utilities should be limited to 40 percent of voting shares only, not to the total outstanding capital stock that includes non-voting shares. Foreign investors not heard. Prior to this decision, the Securities and [...]
THE FOREIGN investor is concerned not so much about economic protectionism but about government changing the rules mid-stream. This I learned at a forum on Tuesday this week, sponsored by the Action for Economic Reform, a group of economists and lawyers, who sat down with the foreign chambers of commerce to discuss the laws regulating [...]
